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Sugary drinks increase the risk of high blood pressure by 70%

Everyone knows that drinking sugary drinks, such as fizzy drinks and some fruit juices, can cause them to pile on the pounds. But new research suggests they can also lead to an increase in blood pressure.

Dr Aaqib Habib Malik, from the Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut, and his colleagues reviewed 12 studies to establish if there is a link between sweet drinks and high blood pressure, Health Day reports. The studies they looked at included almost 410,000 people. They discovered that all of the studies showed a correlation between consuming sugar-sweetened drinks and high blood pressure.

The studies revealed that people who drink sugary drinks are between 26 and 70 per cent more likely to develop high blood pressure than people who do not drink them, Daily RX reports.

They also showed that teenagers who drink three or more sugar-sweetened drinks a day are 87 per cent more likely to develop high blood pressure.